Market Movements: Nongovernmental Organization Strategies to Influence Global Production and Consumption

Key Insights for Managers

Activist campaigns can influence the labor and environmental practices of global brands’ supply chains, under certain circumstances. Based on an analysis of multiple case studies, author Dana O’Rourke identifies the following factors that make activist campaigns especially influential. First, when they conduct research on global production networks to identify the major suppliers, retailers, and purchasers of a specific product, in order to identify who to target and which poor practices are susceptible to pressure. Second, when they conduct and coordinate exposés with other organizations to amplify their salience. Third, when they create a credible threat of consumer action and risk to brand image. And fourth, when they highlight sustainable alternative solutions to current practices.

These conclusions were drawn from an analysis of three campaigns. One campaign targeted Staples, which subsequently committed to phasing out products produced with material from endangered forests and to selling paper with a minimum of 30% recycled content. Another campaign targeted Nike, which then introduced a shoe take-back program and phased out some toxic chemicals from its footwear. The third campaign demanded that Dell’s computer takeback program, which sought to reduce electronic waste, require its suppliers to discontinue using prison labor to disassemble and recycle the computers.